Charlotte Brontë was born on April 21, 1816 in Yorkshire, England to Reverend Patrick Brontë and Maria Branwell. Brontë had four sisters, Maria, Elizabeth, Emily and Anne, and one brother, Branwell. In 1821, after the death of the mother, her emotionally distant sister, Elizabeth Branwell, and her father raised the Brontë children. Their father did not spend much time with his children; however, he was committed to their education (Mairs, 5). When he remained at home, he ensured that his children were well versed in the Romantic literature of their time (Steinitz, 16). With each of his children showing exceptional ability, the reverend desired for his four oldest daughters to go away to school, but as a clergy man, he could not afford to send them. With the opening of the Clergy Daughters’ School, however, which provided an affordable alternative, he sent the four oldest daughters, including Charlotte, away to the School (Mairs, 5). The founder of the Clergy Daughters’ School “had devised a harsh regime with the idea of instilling Christian resignation, reinforced by his constant reminder to the girls that they were the objects of charity.” The School was also infamous for its poor health conditions. As a result, Maria and Elizabeth grew deeply ill with tuberculosis and died, and Charlotte and Emily were removed from the School soon after. Returning to their former situation of an allusive father and a careless aunt, Charlotte and Emily, as well as Branwell and Anne, were left with themselves and their imaginations. For the sisters, the indoctrinated teachings concerning the inferiority of women witnessed at the School were their first instances of a society that looked down upon them for being women. These memories subsequently influenced their writings and works of art that defined the rest of their lives (Mairs, 5).
As her awareness of the inequity inherent in the patriarchal society in which she lived progressively increased, Brontë sought economic independence through writing. To gain this independence, Brontë became a governess and refrained from marriage, despite two proposals (Mairs, 5). In her writing, Brontë assumed the pseudonym Currer Bell, which allowed her to freely express her visions of “not woman as she is, but as she might be” (Mairs, 6). While her women characters and protagonists of her novels are dominated by the same patriarchy under which Brontë herself was trapped, her women are empowered to escape the images of enclosure that seek to hinder them. Brontë therefore particularly focuses on heterosexual relationships and the subsequent power balance identified between the male and female characters (Dutta, 2311).
In order to explore the relationships between men and women, Brontë uses psychology in her novels, consistent with the methods of her contemporaries. In each of her texts, the women experience the same psychological development: “feelings of dissolution,” “internalization of social tension” and the resolution of “crises they face” so that, in the end, the women can “attain self-realisation and assume an independent personality.” For instance, in her famous novel Jane Eyre, Brontë illustrates the dual personalities inherent in women through two different characters, with each embodying one personality. Jane Eyre represents the domestic, restricted woman completely dominated by a masculine society, while Bertha, the mad woman in the attic, represents a sexualized woman, who is assertive, independent and defying the restrictions imposed upon her. Thus, in order for Jane to assume her independent personality, she must be able to embrace emotions void of reason; in this sense, she will be able to escape the restrictions placed upon her in the rational world in order to fully express herself. The combination of these two models of femininity encapsulates the ideal for all women in a patriarchal society (Dutta, 2312).
Defying the Victorian notion of women as passive beings, Brontë created powerful characters that encouraged women readers to assume the same independence through shaping their own lives, particularly in regards to marriage and motherhood (Dutta, 2311). Brontë asserted that women’s dependence on men made them stagnant, for men caused their health to falter as well as their intelligence to diminish (Dutta, 2315). As ordinary, unmarried, unmoneyed women, mirroring Brontë’s own situation in society, the ascension of these characters reflected Brontë’s own search for an independent identity void of male dominance (Dutta, 2311). For Brontë, the home was significant in that it became transformed as the equivalent to the universities, clubs, and organizations of male authors for women (Peterson, 906). In addition, it represented the complicated relationship she identified between author and woman (Peterson, 901). For Charlotte Brontë, being a “woman” and an “author” were two different roles (Peterson, 901). Women, Brontë argued, possessed duties as a daughter, wife and/or mother, while writers boasted of talents for others to enjoy (Peterson, 914). This distinction between the two identities is best witnessed in critics’ reception of Brontë’s Jane Eyre. After its publication in 1847, critics asserted that it seemed largely “unfeminine” (Peterson, 915). As the 1848 Quarterly acclaimed, the novel seemed as though it was either written by a “strange man,” or by a woman who had “long forfeited the society of her own sex” (Peterson, 908). Considering that she was described as having been more interested in ideas than profit, as well as that she waited for marriage and thus womanly domestic responsibilities until she was almost forty, Brontë was committed to an experimental style of writing (Peterson, 915; Steinitz, 15). Brontë assumed her role as an author first, and later embraced her womanhood, only to die a few months after becoming the wife of Arthur Bell Nicholls due to potential “complications from pregnancy” (Steinitz, 15).
Works Cited
Dutta, Sangeeta. "Charlotte Bronte and the Woman Question". Economic and Political Weekly 5 Oct 1991. Web. 2311-2315 (ELG.Eng386.Winter2015)
Mairs, Nancy. “Rev. of Charlotte Brontë: A Passionate Life, by Lyndall Gordon.” The Women’s Review of Books 12.6 (1995): 5-6.
Peterson Linda H. “Triangulation, Desire, and Discontent in ‘The Life of Charlotte Brontë.’” Studies in English Literature, 1500-1900 47.4 (2007): 901-920. Web. Steinitz, Rebecca. “‘Brontës Through the Ages:’ Rev. of Emma Brown and The Brontë Myth.” The Women’s Review of Books 21.10/11 (2004): 15-16.
CS/HWS/ENG 214
As her awareness of the inequity inherent in the patriarchal society in which she lived progressively increased, Brontë sought economic independence through writing. To gain this independence, Brontë became a governess and refrained from marriage, despite two proposals (Mairs, 5). In her writing, Brontë assumed the pseudonym Currer Bell, which allowed her to freely express her visions of “not woman as she is, but as she might be” (Mairs, 6). While her women characters and protagonists of her novels are dominated by the same patriarchy under which Brontë herself was trapped, her women are empowered to escape the images of enclosure that seek to hinder them. Brontë therefore particularly focuses on heterosexual relationships and the subsequent power balance identified between the male and female characters (Dutta, 2311).
In order to explore the relationships between men and women, Brontë uses psychology in her novels, consistent with the methods of her contemporaries. In each of her texts, the women experience the same psychological development: “feelings of dissolution,” “internalization of social tension” and the resolution of “crises they face” so that, in the end, the women can “attain self-realisation and assume an independent personality.” For instance, in her famous novel Jane Eyre, Brontë illustrates the dual personalities inherent in women through two different characters, with each embodying one personality. Jane Eyre represents the domestic, restricted woman completely dominated by a masculine society, while Bertha, the mad woman in the attic, represents a sexualized woman, who is assertive, independent and defying the restrictions imposed upon her. Thus, in order for Jane to assume her independent personality, she must be able to embrace emotions void of reason; in this sense, she will be able to escape the restrictions placed upon her in the rational world in order to fully express herself. The combination of these two models of femininity encapsulates the ideal for all women in a patriarchal society (Dutta, 2312).
Defying the Victorian notion of women as passive beings, Brontë created powerful characters that encouraged women readers to assume the same independence through shaping their own lives, particularly in regards to marriage and motherhood (Dutta, 2311). Brontë asserted that women’s dependence on men made them stagnant, for men caused their health to falter as well as their intelligence to diminish (Dutta, 2315). As ordinary, unmarried, unmoneyed women, mirroring Brontë’s own situation in society, the ascension of these characters reflected Brontë’s own search for an independent identity void of male dominance (Dutta, 2311). For Brontë, the home was significant in that it became transformed as the equivalent to the universities, clubs, and organizations of male authors for women (Peterson, 906). In addition, it represented the complicated relationship she identified between author and woman (Peterson, 901). For Charlotte Brontë, being a “woman” and an “author” were two different roles (Peterson, 901). Women, Brontë argued, possessed duties as a daughter, wife and/or mother, while writers boasted of talents for others to enjoy (Peterson, 914). This distinction between the two identities is best witnessed in critics’ reception of Brontë’s Jane Eyre. After its publication in 1847, critics asserted that it seemed largely “unfeminine” (Peterson, 915). As the 1848 Quarterly acclaimed, the novel seemed as though it was either written by a “strange man,” or by a woman who had “long forfeited the society of her own sex” (Peterson, 908). Considering that she was described as having been more interested in ideas than profit, as well as that she waited for marriage and thus womanly domestic responsibilities until she was almost forty, Brontë was committed to an experimental style of writing (Peterson, 915; Steinitz, 15). Brontë assumed her role as an author first, and later embraced her womanhood, only to die a few months after becoming the wife of Arthur Bell Nicholls due to potential “complications from pregnancy” (Steinitz, 15).
Works Cited
Dutta, Sangeeta. "Charlotte Bronte and the Woman Question". Economic and Political Weekly 5 Oct 1991. Web. 2311-2315 (ELG.Eng386.Winter2015)
Mairs, Nancy. “Rev. of Charlotte Brontë: A Passionate Life, by Lyndall Gordon.” The Women’s Review of Books 12.6 (1995): 5-6.
Peterson Linda H. “Triangulation, Desire, and Discontent in ‘The Life of Charlotte Brontë.’” Studies in English Literature, 1500-1900 47.4 (2007): 901-920. Web.
Steinitz, Rebecca. “‘Brontës Through the Ages:’ Rev. of Emma Brown and The Brontë Myth.” The Women’s Review of Books 21.10/11 (2004): 15-16.
CS/HWS/ENG 214